Allowing for changes of faces and shows, the British TV Christmas remains remarkably unchanged from the 1960s. Indeed, reruns of Morecambe & Wise achieve the peculiar cryogenic spectacle of the duo still dominating the festive schedules, even though they last performed together 27 years ago.

However, the TV new year is as directionless as a midnight drunk stumbling home. Confident and consistent about what 25 December should see, executives have constantly revised their vision of 31 December.

Paradoxically, while television is general has become progressively more Scottish – with production shunted north and generations of broadcasters imported south – the broadcast Hogmanay, which Caledonia culturally owns, has become increasingly anglicised.

Viewers over 40 recall long hours of kilted singers and comedians transmitted live from Edinburgh or Glasgow, complete with bagpipe interludes and haggis for the studio audience. But recent annual count-outs have tended to come from London, centred on Big Ben, the case again on the final night of 2011 with New Year Live (BBC1) and ITV News and Countdown to 2012.

The BBC's coverage is fronted by Jake Humphreys and ITV's list no host at all, a departure from past years when a Clive James or Jonathan Ross would be watching the clock. This is a legacy of the medium's fakery scandals, when it was noticed that some star-studded last night shows were pretending to be live, dropping in a shot of Big Ben's Cinderella chimes.

Mr Holland's musical celebration is the nearest this TV night has developed to a seasonal fixture, an equivalent of Morecambe & Wise, although BBC2 also includes three shows featuring Eric & Ernie on its final night of the year, making the long-gone comics the TV champions of both the big eating day of December and the big drinking night.